Saturday, June 26, 2010

Pain trouvé

It's funny how long a can of coconut milk will last. After I skimped in making Red Lentil Coconut Curry, I thought I'd find another great use for the second half of the can. It went in Earl Grey, it went in coffee, it went in decaf chai... but it needed to go more quickly.

When I lived in London, I went out for weekly karaoke with an assortment of people, mostly French, doing internships in the city. My friend Cyril told me about "pain perdu" (or "lost bread"), which sounded interesting. At the end of that year, when I visited him and others in Toulouse, we made pain perdu, and I realized that it was just what we call... French toast.

I literally have not made French toast in years. Perhaps I have actually never made it (besides helping with pain perdu in Toulouse), and I just remember my parents making it when I was growing up (we had breakfast for dinner several nights a week--we must have kept Bisquick in business). Anyway, every vegan French toast recipe calls for coating your bread in tofu goop, something that's never really appealed to me. Would coconut milk be a viscous enough alternative?

I'm still not sure. To cover my behind, I also mixed in one prepared ener-g "egg replacer," which, I know, diminishes my "not using weird things" feelings about French toast. There was so much sugar in the batch I made that it sort of caramelized with the oil in the pan. It was delicious, but I felt a strong urge to brush my teeth before they fell out. So, that's been reduced in the recipe below. Indeed, the recipe needed drier bread and less sugar (though sugar would depend on how you're topping it--use even less if you're going to put syrup on top). Some lemon zest or juice would balance out the richness and the sweetness.

Coconut French Toast

Ingredients

2 ener-g "eggs"

1/2-3/4 c coconut milk

3-4 TB brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

lemon zest or juice?

salt?

*

vegetable oil or earth balance

8-10 slices old, dry bread

banana slices

unsweetened coconut

Instructions

1) Prepare egg replacer. In a wide, shallow bowl, combine remaining ingredients with egg replacer.
2) Heat oil (not that much) in a nonstick pan. Dredge slices of bread in batter, flipping once so that the entire thing is soaked and coated.
3) Cook battered bread in pan like a pancake, flipping once, until browned.
4) Serve hot with banana slices and coconut. Makes about 8-10 slices.